dessert |

Decadent Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Pie

April 22, 2013 Leave a Comment

This rich chocolate peanut butter dessert is over-the-top delicious! With an easy homemade pudding recipe that just takes moments to make. And although I made it with a homemade pie crust next time I’ll use a graham cracker crust. So much easier and it will taste just as good (maybe even better)!

This recipe was based off one found in a Saveur magazine but I forgot to add the whipped cream to both puddings to lighten it. What a fortuitous mistake! So much richer this way.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Pie

1 baked pie crust (frozen, refrigerated, homemade or graham cracker)
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
8 oz. semisweet chocolate (chips or chopped)
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
4 egg yolks (I used extra large but large will work fine)
2 cups milk
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter (cut into 4 pieces)
2 tsp. vanilla extract

whipped cream (recipe below)

Place peanut butter and chocolate in separate bowl. In a medium saucepan, whisk together salt, brown sugar, cornstarch, yolks and milk. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and then cook until custard thickens, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat; whisk in butter and vanilla.

Strain pudding mixture through sieve and then divide pudding evenly between peanut butter and chocolate; whisk until smooth. Spread peanut butter pudding in prepared pie crust and then spread the chocolate pudding on top of it. Chill for at least two hours. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

Sweetened Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat cream, sugar and vanilla together until stiff peaks form. Serve immediately or the whipped cream can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Filed Under: Desserts, Pie, Recipes Tagged With: best, chocolate, dessert, homemade pudding reipce from scratch, peanut butter, pie, pudding, recipe

Peach Blueberry Tart Recipe – Divine!

April 1, 2013 2 Comments

This incredibly delicious peach blueberry tart has fast become one of my favorite dessert recipes! You can use frozen fruit or fresh so that it can be made and shared at any time of the year. If using frozen, do make sure you thaw the fruit prior to putting together. The first time I made it I overlooked the directions that said to use ‘thawed’ and although still delicious, the fruit needed a bit more cooking.

This recipe and photo comes from the Oct/Nov. 1012 issue of Taste of Home (mine looks almost as good as theirs!). Easier than a peach blueberry pie because you simply pat the crust into the tart pan, it is every bit as good.

Peach Blueberry Tart

1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups frozen unsweetened blueberries, thawed
2 cups frozen unsweetened sliced peaches, thawed
1 tablespoon honey

CRUMB TOPPING:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons butter, melted

In a small bowl, mix the flour, sugar and cinnamon; stir in butter just until blended. Press onto the bottom and up the side of a 9-in. fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

In a large bowl, combine the blueberries, peaches and honey; toss to coat. In a small bowl, combine the first five topping ingredients; stir in butter.

Spoon fruit mixture into crust; sprinkle with topping. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until topping is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before serving. Yield: 12 servings.

Filed Under: Desserts, Pie, Recipes Tagged With: blueberry, crisp, dessert, easy, frozen, fruit, peach, peach blueberry, pie, recipe, tart

Valentine’s Day Sweet Party Bites and Treats

January 23, 2013 Leave a Comment

You can read our recent Valentine’s Day posts with DIY ideas, HERE and HERE… but today’s post is dedicated to Valentine’s Day Party Bites… aka yummy Valentine’s Day party food!

From Amanda’s Parties To Go… a fabulous Valentine’s Day Sweet Shoppe Party post… lots of GREAT ideas for valentines party food and presentation. I love the simplicity of taking store-bought items and jazzing them up:

From Bubbly Nature Creations – a Smarties Parfait recipe… such a great idea for Valentine’s Day! Made of yogurt! Such a healthy Valentines sweet treat recipe!

From She Wears Many Hats, a Valentine’s Day Popcorn recipe and tutorial: Way easier than you’d ever think!

From Sprinkle Some Sunshine, some adorable sweet heart pops: If you have (or can find) candy canes these are so simple to make and the wow factor is so great!

And for those that are a bit more ambitious, from Sweet Sugar Belle, some adorable Valentine Owl Cookies… complete with step-by-step instructions for making them!

What sweet treats will YOU be making for Valentine’s Day? We’d love to hear about them… leave us a comment, or send an email to char@divaentertains.com, and we might feature you in an upcoming post!

Filed Under: Cookies, Desserts, DIY Diva, Other, Recipes Tagged With: dessert, for kids, ideas, owl cookies, party food, popcorn, sweets, treats, valentines

Rolo Cookie Recipe with Peanut Butter Chunks

January 21, 2013 Leave a Comment

Looks good doesn’t it! Although this recipe originally called for chocolate chunks (larger than chocolate chips) I didn’t have any in the house but I did have mini Rolos! They ended up being awesome!

I like my cookies thick and the best way to achieve that is to make sure that your cookie dough is cold or frozen when you put them in the oven (it you bake them right away they will still be delicious, but they will spread more and be a bit crisper).

A friend on the recipe board I’m a part of posted this recipe from the Picky Palate blog. I’ve adapted it a bit below.

Chocolate Rolo Cookies with Peanut Butter

1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 sticks softened unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 extra large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups good quality chocolate chunks OR 1 (12 oz.) bag of mini Rolos, unwrapped
1 cup cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Extra Dark)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat liner.

2. Place peanut butter into the freezer until firm, about 30 minutes. (I spread it on wax paper and put it in the freezer. then broke into pieces when ready to add to batter).

3. In a stand or electric mixer, beat butter and sugars until well combined. Add eggs and vanilla, beating until well combined.

4. Place flour, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Add to wet ingredients along with cocoa powder, and chocolate chunks, slowly mixing until just combined. Drop dollops of frozen peanut butter into dough and turn mixer on for just a few turns of the mixer to get swirls of peanut butter through the dough. With a medium cookie scoop, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart from each other. (Here’s where I put them in the freezer for an hour to harden before I slid them in the oven. You can also put them in the fridge for 1 hour if you’d prefer) Bake for 14 to 17 minutes, until cooked through. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Serve with milk.

Makes 3 dozen cookies

Filed Under: Cookies, Desserts, Recipes Tagged With: chocolate, cookies, dessert, peanut butter, recipe, rolo

Olympic Fever!

July 11, 2012 Leave a Comment

Do you have Olympic Fever? Are you planning an Olympic-themed event? My sister is a HUGE Olympic fan, and we celebrated her son’s 1st birthday in red, white, and blue Olympic style this past weekend. Look at this cutie…

I figured my sister isn’t the only one who has Olympic fever, so I set out to find a few tutorials and DIY projects just in case!

UCreate has a fun week of Olympic DIY going on – you can check out the official post HERE.

Check out this delish looking Olympic Rings Fruit Pizza from A Taste of Home.: To make this olympic dessert *really* easy, buy sugar cookie dough in the refrigerator section of your grocer instead of making it from scratch.